The Ones Who Lived: Book One
by Magic Within Us
Summary: Violet and her twin brother have never been normal, but on their eleventh birthday they discover just how far from normal they really are. Violet would follow Harry anywhere, but the Sorting Hat has other plans, and in order to work together to stop a threat thought long dead they'll have to come to terms with their differences first. (slight AU)
1. Chapter 1

**chapter one**

Violet had always been an early riser. This had always been true, and it was a fact that could possibly be chalked up to her time of her birth, if you believed in that sort of hogwash. Violet was born just as the sun began to rise, early in the morning of July 31st, 1980, and approximately twenty four minutes, as timed by the midwife, after her twin brother, who was born when the sky was dark and still. Of course, Violet herself knew none of this, being an infant at the time, and by the time she was old enough to understand it, her parents had long since been deceased. But that is neither here nor there. The point remains that Violet had a habit of waking up early, and this particular morning was no different.

The moment sunlight began to slip past the faded curtains of the room Violet and her brother shared, her eyes snapped open. Said eyes were hazel; Violet had inherited them from her father. Eye color was not the only thing she had inherited. She kicked off the tangled quilt, scrambled out of bed, and crept over towards her sleeping sibling, who slept in a matching, aging bed on the other side of the small bedroom. He had always been small for his age, and in his sleep he looked more like her younger brother than her older twin. Violet, in contrast, was tall for her age; another thing she had inherited from her father.

A smirk slipped onto her face; it sat rather oddly there, because Violet had a sweet, heart-shaped face that was all her mother's. However, her smirk was entirely her father's fault, and so was what she did next. With one sudden jerk, she ripped the covers right off of him. He immediately started awake, squinted at her, groaned, and rolled over, muttering something far from complimentary.

Violet's talent for getting under other people's skin, particularly her twin's, was entirely her father's fault as well.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, bouncing vigorously in an attempt to further coax her brother into wakefulness. "C'mon," she stage whispered in a wheedling tone, giving one of his scrawny shoulders a good shake. Violet was no mammoth of a girl herself; she was thin and gawky; but it still forced him to turn and look at her.

" _What_?" he demanded, burying his face in his pillow.

"Today's a very special day, that's what," she retorted. "Or have you forgotten?"

His brow furrowed.

"It's Duddy's birthday," Violet hissed gleefully, and he rolled back onto his back with another pained groan.

"You had to remind me."

Violet leapt up from the bed. "You'd better get dressed quick- wouldn't want to miss our favorite cousin's special day!" Snickering, she turned towards the wardrobe they both shared, rummaging in it for something suitable to wear.

"He's our _only_ cousin," her brother muttered from his bed.

"Harry! Be nice," she mock-scolded, and then turned around, holding a dress that had last been in style a good twenty years earlier up to her lanky form. "How's this look?"

"Ridiculous. Like you."

Violet was in the process of sticking her tongue out at him when they both heard quick footsteps in the hall, and before they could even exchange a look, the door flew open. The twins' bedroom door had no lock, and Petunia Dursley was a much happier woman for it, despite not being a terribly happy woman to begin with.

Petunia was very thin, very blonde, and at that moment, very overwhelmed with planning a birthday for a very spoiled, very temperamental boy. She looked between Violet, still holding the dress, to Harry, sitting up in bed, one hand stretched out towards his glasses on the night stand, and back again, which was what she always did without fail when in the presence of the both of them. It was actually rather interesting to watch, as the look in her eyes always shifted slightly, for reasons neither twin had ever understood. That said, at the moment she was pleased with neither of them- she rarely was, but today was, after all, a very special day.

"Neither of you are dressed yet?!" she snapped. "What have you been doing?!"

"Sleeping," Violet supplied helpfully.

"I've been up since the crack of dawn wrapping gifts for Duddy, and I won't have his day ruined," she continued in strident warning. "None of your usual nonsense, do you hear me?"

The latter statement really ought to have been directed at Violet, who had the greater penchant for nonsense, but her glare was leveled mostly at Harry, to no one's surprise. Neither twin knew why, but if Aunt Petunia could find a way to blame Harry for anything that went wrong, she usually took the opportunity. This would have caused a great deal of resentment between brother and sister, had it not been evened out by their uncle, who often went to great lengths to blame Violet for anything that went wrong. That typically made things equal, and the twins were closer for it.

Harry mumbled an assent, while Violet simply grinned, and showed her aunt the dress, which was a horrific shade of chewing gum pink.

"Aunt Tuney, do you think I ought to wear this or the green?"

"I've told you not to call me that," Aunt Petunia snapped, but there was little real bite in after having snapped the same thing day after day ever since Violet had first began to speak actual words. However, as she looked at her niece something in her face, while it did not quite soften, did lessen somewhat in severity.

"There's no need to wear a party dress when you'll be spending the day at Mrs. Figg's. Just get dressed and hurry downstairs, both of you. I want you to help me hang the streamers, and you-," she jerked her head at Harry, who was adjusting his round, taped up glasses, "To keep an eye on the bacon."

With her orders for the day delivered, Aunt Petunia marched out of the room and down the stairs.

"She's a bit tense today, don't you think?" Violet commented.

Harry chose to ignore her in favor of rummaging under the bed for an escaped sock. When he did speak, it was not about his aunt's mood.

"I had a funny dream last night," he informed his sister, as she reluctantly laid out a worn skirt and too-big blouse instead.

"You always remember your dreams, and I never do," she complained. "That's not right- we're twins, we should dream exactly the same."

"It was about a flying motorcycle," he went on, with a small frown.

"Oh, you've had that one before," Violet rolled her eyes.

"When?"

"Last October! I remember. I wish I had dreams about flying motorcycles- or regular motorcycles. I've always wanted one."

Harry snorted, presumably at the idea of his sister on a motorcycle, and Violet shot him a look as she quickly worked her dark red hair into a messy braid. Her hair- her looks in general, really, aside from her height and eye color, were the only things of her mother recognizable in her right off the bat. But Violet was as oblivious as to how similar or dissimilar she was to her parents as her twin was, the very picture of his father aside from his eyes.

The two raced to see who could dress the quickest, as they did every morning. Harry usually won, but only, Violet insisted every time, because boy clothes were easier to put on than girl clothes, even if said boy clothes were multiple sizes too big. Everything Harry wore was a hand-me-down of their much larger cousin's. Violet was not much better off; everything she wore was a hand-me-down of their aunt's.

The pristine kitchen downstairs was nearly unrecognizable, not because of any mess but because of the sheer volume of brightly wrapped presents, spilling off of the table and chairs and onto the floor. Violet recklessly skirted around them and clambered up on a chair to help adjust a cloyingly blue streamer, while her brother turned his attention to the bacon sizzling in a pan of the stove.

Roughly three minutes later, when Aunt Petunia was finally satisfied with the position of the streamer and Violet nimbly hopped down from the chair, despite the woman's shrill of disapproval, Uncle Vernon barged into the kitchen. He had a habit of entering rooms like that, being big, beefy, and above all, loud. He gave his usual greeting to both twins; "Comb your hair!" to Harry, and "Fix that braid!" to Violet. Harry's hair, if it had been a bush, would have been an overgrown bramble. Violet's hair was a lesser offender, but tended to rebel against whatever constraints put upon it.

Violet smiled carelessly at her uncle, which was her go-to response since it seemed to infuriate him all the more, judging by the interesting colors his already red face turned. Harry kept his head down and focused on the eggs he was cracking.

"You take over the eggs," Aunt Petunia instructed Violet sharply, and gestured impatiently for Harry to bring over the eggs before hurrying out to get the birthday boy. Whenever the twins could be pressed into helping with any household tasks, they were, although Uncle Vernon often insisted on the chores being gender-segregated; if Harry was scrubbing down the bathroom, Violet had better be dusting down the mantle.

"If those eggs are burned you'll be in for it, girl," Uncle Vernon snapped at her while she carefully rotated the pan. Violet waited until he was no longer glowering in her direction before silently mouthing his words at Harry, who immediately looked away so as to not burst into laughter.

Dudley and Aunt Petunia presently arrived in the kitchen; Violet was not at all surprised when he went straight for the presents. Dudley always found a reason to be upset, even on his birthday, and as last year he had broken several things in his rage over something not being the right color, Violet decided she had better help herself to one of the fried eggs now. Obviously of a similar mind, her brother was attacking the bacon.

As she ate she watched her aunt talk Dudley down from a tantrum; had she not been a housewife Aunt Petunia might have made an excellent hostage negotiator. Then she watched her cousin open his presents. It was hard not to be envious of Dudley year-round, when he had all the love and affection and attention anyone could ever want heaped on him every day, but it was even harder on his birthday. Violet and her brother were never completely ignored on their birthday, but the few presents they received were either very cheap or Dudley-rejects, and there was never any special outings or cake.

Violet didn't quite hate Dudley, not how she knew Harry did. This might have been because Dudley tended to bully Harry more-so than her; her he mostly ignored, as no matter how feared you and your friends were at school, no one wanted to be the person who'd beaten up a girl- or been beat by a girl. The last time Dudley had gone after Harry Violet had given him a good punch to the gut, and it'd taken him a long while to get his wind back. Now Dudley really only physically shoved Harry around when Violet couldn't get away with stopping him; in the presence of his parents.

She glanced up from stealing a strip of her twin's bacon when Aunt Petunia abruptly hung up the phone in a manner that suggested she was not pleased with what she had just heard. Violet got ready to hear the latest dose of neighborhood gossip; had the Myers's dog gotten loose again? But instead Aunt Petunia looked at her and Harry as if whatever she'd just heard was somehow their fault, and then turned to Uncle Vernon.

"Mrs. Figg can't take them," she said in a low, horrified tone. "She's gone and broke her leg."

This escaped no one; all eyes were immediately on her. Dudley gave a whine of protest like a pig being led to the slaughter. Uncle Vernon sputtered in outrage. Violet shared a hopeful look with her brother. This might finally be the year they were allowed to come along on one of Dudley's birthday outings. This year was the zoo; last year had been movies. The twins had always been left behind with Mrs. Figg from down the street, who was always nice enough but had a house that reeked of cabbage and far too many cats.

"Phone Marge," Uncle Vernon barked. "See if she can take them."

"Marge swore she'd set her dogs on them after the last time!"

Uncle Vernon's sister Aunt Marge despised the twins, and they returned the feeling tenfold.

"We could just stay here," Violet suggested brightly. Harry nodded beside her. Staying at home by themselves might be even better than going out; they'd have the run of the house for a change. They could play with all of Dudley's new toys and gadgets.

"We'd come back and the house would be smoldering ashes," Aunt Petunia snapped, before turning back to Uncle Vernon. "What if we bring them along and have them sit in the car?"

"That car is brand new, Petunia-,"

Dudley's high whine morphed into a full on wail. Violet immediately plugged her ears. He wasn't actually crying; Dudley rarely really cried, because he never had any reason to be really, genuinely upset or sad. But he was good at faking it, and he was also good at getting his way.

The doorbell rang, piercing through Dudley's wails and Aunt Petunia's cooed assurances, and Violet slowly unplugged her ears while her aunt raced to get it. Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend, who strongly resembled a rodent and generally behaved much like one as well, slunk in. The last time Violet had encountered Piers it had ended with him fleeing the scene, and he went pale as he saw her now. She smiled banally.

Not long after, the twins found themselves cornered by Uncle Vernon as Dudley and Piers scrambled into the backseat of the car. Much to everyone else's despair and Violet and Harry's delight, there didn't seem to be any option but to take the two of them along to the zoo. However, their uncle was not about to let them go without a warning.

"Listen to me very carefully," he snarled, looming over them like an irate walrus. "Any funny business from either of you;" He was mostly scowling at Violet, as if she were plotting even as he spoke- "And neither of you will leave that room until Christmas."

"We're not going to do anything," Harry said immediately.

"We promise," Violet added, trying to keep a straight face.

Uncle Vernon didn't look very reassured, and despite his personal biases, had good reason not to be. Odd things happened around the twins.

Harry's hair had once grown back in a single night after Aunt Petunia had hacked it all off, just leaving behind the bangs to cover up the strange, jagged little scar on his forehead. The Dursleys swore it was from the car accident that had killed the twins' parents, but Violet had always wondered why she had no marks on her.

After being yelled at by Uncle Vernon for a good ten minutes on a particularly bad day, all of the little knick-knacks Aunt Petunia kept on the mantle had jumped off one by one, as if committing ritualistic suicide, right behind Violet.

A sweater Aunt Petunia had tried to force Harry to wear once had gotten smaller and smaller until it was doll-sized.

Violet had been tripped up by Dudley while coming down the stairs and landed on a sofa pillow that had certainly not been there a moment before.

Harry had somehow ended up on the roof of the school kitchens while on the run from Dudley's little gang, with no idea how he had gotten there.

And just last month a girl who frequently bullied Violet in school had gone to sat down at her desk and landed on the floor, the desk collapsing as if it were made of cardboard underneath her.

However, Violet was determined nothing strange would happen today, and she was sure Harry was thinking likewise. The backseat was a bit cramped with the four of them wedged in; Piers and Dudley on one side, Violet and Harry on the other. Violet put herself in between her cousin and her brother, and ignored the sharp poke in the ribs she got from Dudley in retaliation.

At one point a motorcycle went roaring by the car, with prompted Uncle Vernon to go on an entirely new tangent about the inferiority of motorcycles, and prompted Violet and Harry to exchange a covert glance of amusement.

The weather was warm without being uncomfortably hot, the sun was high in the sky, and the zoo was packed, Violet noted as they exited the car, Dudley and Piers racing ahead, her and her brother trailing after their aunt and uncle. Ice cream was being sold at the entrance, just past where you bought your ticket, and Violet hung back with Harry while the Dursleys made a great show of getting Dudley and Piers each a large chocolate soft-serve.

"And what about these two?" the woman in the van asked good-naturedly, as Violet's red hair and Harry's piercing green eyes were hard to ignore.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon exchanged a look, realizing they couldn't get away with not getting the twins anything without losing face, and quickly bought them both the cheapest thing being sold; lemon ice pops.

It was hard to not be happy when the sun was shining and one had an ice pop to lick at while they wandered around, and seeing as neither had ever been to the zoo before, Violet and her brother were having one of the best mornings of their lives. The Dursleys weren't paying much attention to them at all, and so long as they kept their distance from Dudley and Piers, the two boys couldn't be bothered to harass them much either.

The food in the zoo restaurant was better than anything Violet had eaten all year, and when Dudley threw a fit because his knickerbocker glory was lacking in the ice cream department, she and Harry were allowed to finish it while he devoured a brand new one.

It was beginning to get hotter after lunch, and Dudley and Piers led the way into the dark, pleasantly air-conditioned reptile house, yelling about seeing the biggest, most dangerous snakes. Violet wandered, and was discussing whether or not a seemingly empty exhibit had a chameleon hiding in it or not with Harry when Dudley gave a shout.

He was right up against the glass of the largest exhibit, which housed the largest snake Violet had ever seen, whining for Uncle Vernon to wake it up.

"It's trying to sleep," she said, but both her uncle and cousin shot her a nasty look before moving on, leaving the twins standing there alone.

"Maybe it died of boredom," Harry said dryly.

Violet snorted. "Or shock, if it woke up and saw their faces."

Suddenly, the snake opened its eyes, raising itself up slightly to stare at both of them.

"Whoa," Violet breathed.

The snake winked.

Harry looked stunned, and glanced at Violet, who had clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from yelping in surprise. He turned back to the snake and winked back.

Violet watched, mesmerized, as the snake appeared to look over at Uncle Vernon and Dudley and roll its eyes. Harry murmured in agreement, only it sounded more like hissing.

"Are you talking to it? You can talk to it?!" she demanded in hushed excitement. For all the odd things that had happened to or around them, she'd never been able to talk to any animal. "Ask it something!"

"Okay, okay," Harry shot back, and then hissed something else at the snake.

It seemed to point at something with its tail. Both twins squinted at the sign it was indicating.

"Boa Constrictor, Brazil," Violet read aloud. "This specimen was bred in the zoo."

Harry was hissing something else at the snake, and then someone screamed from behind them.

Piers and Dudley both raced up. Violet stumbled back as Piers elbowed past her, and Harry fell backwards onto the cold, hard floor as Dudley punched him.

Violet started forward in anger, not even caring that her aunt and uncle were on their way over, ready to give Dudley what for, when suddenly both Dudley and Piers scrambled away from the exhibit, screeching in terror. Violet stared- the glass had vanished completely, and the massive constrictor was slithering out onto the floor. The reptile house exploded with panic, but Violet was frozen, watching the great snake slither past her brother, hissing something at him.

An hour later, after a long, emotional talk with the reptile house keeper and the zoo director, both of whom were extremely apologetic, as well as extremely confounded, the Dursleys, the twins, and Piers, sat in the car. Dudley kept claiming the snake had done it's best to take one of his legs with it, while Piers maintained he had come this close to being crushed to death. As the car pulled out of the zoo lot, however, Piers piped up with a vile little grin, "They were talking to it," with a nod of his head at Violet and Harry.

"No, _I_ was talking to it," Harry snapped fiercely.

"No," Violet retorted, not about to let her twin take all of the blame. "It was me."

Uncle Vernon was so enraged he could barely form coherent sentences by the time Piers had gone home, and Aunt Petunia was all purse-lipped fury. Violet refused to admit it had been Harry- Aunt Petunia was convinced it had been him- and Harry insisted it was him- Uncle Vernon was certain it had been Violet.

As it was impossible to pinpoint exactly who it had been, Violet and her twin were ordered upstairs and into their room, where they laid in the dark that night, murmuring quietly to one another, and very hungry since they'd never had any dinner.

"It'll be ten years in July," Harry said at some point, tiredly.

"I know," said Violet, and she paused before. "Do you ever remember the accident?"

There was a brief moment of silence before her twin replied. "I remember a green light. And my forehead burning."

"I remember the green light too," Violet whispered. "I wish I remembered Mum and Dad. Do you think we look like them?"

"Maybe," Harry said. "I hope so."

"I wonder which one of us made the glass disappear," Violet mumbled sleepily, and rolled over in her bed, staring at the old wallpaper. Every night she fell asleep listening to her brother fall asleep, and tonight was no different. There was always the guarantee that they would see one another in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

_Definitely wasn't expecting a review, four follows, and a fave right off the bat so that's really cool. Thanks to BlueSerdy, OG Lady Britain, Riggettes75, and kakins48._

 **chapter two**

For the majority of the next month Violet and her brother found themselves confined to their room when not at school, with the exception of meals. This didn't particularly bother the twins, as they had one another for company, and the less they saw of the Dursleys, the better.

However, it did leave them very restless by the time they were finally allowed out once again, particularly Violet. Violet was quite clever, according to all of her teachers, but she 'lacked drive' and seemed 'more content to engage in idle chatter and cause distractions for the rest of the class'. Violet couldn't really argue with that; she didn't much like schoolwork, and she was always very relieved when the summer holidays began.

Violet and Harry both preferred to spend their time out of the house, seeing as Dudley and his friends were always hanging around, usually watching television or playing computer games, but occasionally getting bored with that and instead harassing the twins. But this summer was a bit more positive than the last, since once September rolled around, as Violet continuously reminded herself and her brother, Dudley wouldn't be able to bother them much at all. He was going to their uncle's old school, Smeltings, for secondary, and would only be home for holidays and the occasional weekend.

Violet almost wished they were being sent away as well, but she knew Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would never spend that kind of money. The twins would attend Stonewall, the local public secondary school. Dudley seemed to find the very idea of this hilarious, and was fond of telling them about all the awful things that apparently happened there. Harry in turn was usually sarcastic on a level Dudley couldn't comprehend, while Violet enjoyed pretending to be shocked and horrified until he went away and she could burst out laughing.

"Stuff our heads down the toilet?" she snorted, leaning up against the wall so she didn't collapse in amusement. "He's practically been preparing us for Stonewall his entire life."

Her twin just shook his head.

Violet came down for breakfast one morning, Harry not far behind her, and almost retched. The kitchen reeked of who-knew-what, the smell emanating from a tub in the sink with something soaking in it. The twins warily approached.

"Dear God," said Violet. "Did you skin a rhinoceros?"

"What _is_ it?" Harry muttered.

"Your uniforms," Aunt Petunia all but growled. "They have to be grey, so I'm dying some old things."

"Oh, I look terrible in grey," Violet sighed in dismay. "You know how washed out it makes me look."

"I didn't realize they had to smell a certain way, too," Harry whispered to her, and Aunt Petunia narrowed her eyes and barked at them to get out of the way.

They sat down at the table, and were soon joined by Uncle Vernon and Dudley, both of whom looked less than pleased by the smell themselves.

Dudley was in the process of a 'practice swing' at the twins heads with his Smeltings stick when the mail could be heard being slipped through the slat in the front door.

"Get the mail, Dudley," Uncle Vernon ordered, not taking his eyes off his newspaper.

"Make one of them get it," he whined.

"Get the mail, girl."

"You asked Dudley first."

"Hit her with the stick, Dudley."

Violet jumped up, ducking the stick, and jogged out of the kitchen and over to the front door, where the mail was laying on the doormat. She picked up a postcard from Aunt Marge with a grimace, a bill, and, to her surprise, two letters. One for her brother, and one for her. For a few moments she simply turned the letters over and over in shock. Who could be writing to them? They didn't have any other family, and they didn't have any friends.

The letters were nearly identical aside from the difference in 'Mr. H. Potter' and 'Miss V. Potter'. The envelopes were heavy and old-fashioned, the paper yellowed, and the ink was dark green. The strangest thing was that there was no stamp or return address, and both were sealed with a wax crest, complete with a little coat of arms.

Uncle Vernon was loudly inquiring as to what was taking her so long from the kitchen, but Violet's screech completely drowned him out.

"Harry, we've got letters!"

She dashed back into the kitchen clutching hers, and tossing Harry's at him. He caught it deftly, and Dudley promptly tried to grab it from him, beginning a struggle. Aunt Petunia had looked up sharply from the stewing clothes, and gave Uncle Vernon a look. He immediately ripped Violet's out of her hand.

"That's mine!" she cried indignantly, as her uncle stormed around the table to roughly separate the two boys wrestling on the ground, snatching up Harry's letter as well.

Uncle Vernon ignored the three angry children (Violet and Harry because they wanted their letters, Dudley because it had been over a year since the last time his father disciplined him), and ripped one letter, then the other open, Aunt Petunia peering almost anxiously over his shoulder. The man's normally red face turned a queasy green, and then paled.

"They have our names on them," Harry snapped furiously. "I want mine."

"Why can't we read them?" Violet demanded, her mind racing. Obviously her aunt and uncle didn't want them to know whatever the letters said- maybe it was a long-lost relative, trying to get in contact with them. This could be their once chance. She dashed forward, but her uncle roughly shoved her back.

"Out, all three of you," he said as menacingly as he could while looking about to faint.

Dudley appeared shocked to be included in this.

The twins refused to move, and in the end had to be bodily hauled out of the room, along with a screaming Dudley, by their uncle, who slammed and locked the kitchen door in their faces. After a brief three way battle, Dudley ended up peering through the keyhole, while Harry listened through the crack at the bottom of the door, Violet crouched behind him.

"What's going on?" she whispered. "What are they talking about?"

"They're talking about being spied on," he hissed back. "And something about dangerous nonsense."

"They think everything is dangerous nonsense!" she retorted in frustration.

The twins were once again confined to their room for the rest of the day, with nothing to do but theorize as to who the letters might have been from and what they might have been about.

"The address said 'the smallest bedroom'," Violet said excitedly. "They know where we sleep, Harry!"

"But that doesn't explain _how_. I wish you'd just opened them in the hall."

This resulted in a bitter argument which ended with neither of them wanting very much to speak with the other. No one was very happy the next morning, and when the mail arrived, Dudley was forced to go and get it, to his extreme displeasure. He immediately started yelling about there being two more letters. Uncle Vernon sprung out his chair much as fast as a man of his size could, and Violet and Harry were hot on his heels down the hall. While their uncle pinned their cousin to the floor to get the letters he was holding, Harry jumped on his back, and Violet skirted around the three struggling forms to try to snatch one of them up. Dudley's stick came down hard on her hand, however, and the twins ended up back in their room, Uncle Vernon again in possession of their letters.

Violet held a packet of frozen peas on her hand while Harry stalked around the room.

"I have a plan," they both spoke up at the same time, and then exchanged a knowing look.

The ancient alarm clock in their room rang at six the next morning, and Violet and her brother crept down the stairs, still in their pajamas. Their only option now was to meet the postman before he even got to the house; they weren't sure what direction he came from, so one of them would stand at one end of Privet Drive, one at the other.

Violet led the silent charge towards the door and then screamed bloody murder. She'd just stepped on something big and vaguely squishy. Uncle Vernon howled in pain, the lights upstairs came on. After the two of them were screamed at for some time, they were ordered into the kitchen to make some tea, and when they sullenly came back out, Uncle Vernon was grasping six letters, three each addressed to them, in his meaty hands.

He proceeded to tear them up in front of the twins. Violet wanted to scream and throw something, but settled for keeping a stubbornly straight face. Harry's small hands were curled into fists, shaking at his sides. They spent that day in their room as well; listening to their uncle nail shut the mail slot downstairs.

The next day nearly two dozen letters arrived; shoved under the door and through the tiny downstairs bathroom window. The Dursleys were beginning to act as if they were living in a horror movie. Uncle Vernon stopped going into work and began burning the letters in the sitting room fireplace, and boarding up the front and back doors, humming maniacally.

On the day after that, a Saturday, letters arrived hidden in the eggs delivered by the milkman. Violet watched her aunt shred them in the food processor, while Dudley stared and asked Harry, "Who on earth wants to talk to you two this badly?"

Sunday morning came around. Violet tuned out her uncle while he hysterically happily rambled about the lack of post on Sundays. Something was rustling in the kitchen chimney.

"Uncle Vernon-," she began, pointing behind him.

"What?" He turned around, and a letter flew out of the chimney, slapping him in the face.

Harry choked on his orange juice.

More letters came rocketing out of the chimney. Violet scrambled up onto the table to try to grab one out of the air, while Harry clambered onto his chair, jumping as high as he could. Uncle Vernon grabbed Violet by the hair and dragged her off of the table, while Aunt Petunia forced Harry down from the chair as she dashed out of the kitchen with Dudley.

Once in the hall, Violet listened to the sounds of the letters zipping around the kitchen. "If you'd just let us read one, maybe they'd stop," she said loudly, but her uncle snarled for them all to pack their things and be back downstairs in five minutes. He'd nearly torn out half his mustache in his rage.

The car ride away from Privet Drive was miserable. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia carried on muttered, frantic conversations in the front, while Dudley sniffled piteously in the back, having been cuffed on the head by his father for holding them up while trying to take along as many things as possible. They drove for hours, occasionally turning around to 'shake 'em off', as Uncle Vernon said. Violet desperately hoped that whoever had sent the letters was indeed following them, and in the process of catching up. She debated making some sort of sign to put in the car window, but fell asleep before she could figure out what to right.

When Harry shook her awake it was dark, and they were getting out of the car at some shabby little hotel on the outskirts of some dreary city. Her, Harry, and Dudley tiredly shuffled into a small room that smelled of cigarettes, and she and Harry shared one cramped twin bed, while Dudley snored uproariously in the other. Violet stayed up late with her brother, too apprehensive to sleep, watching traffic rumble by.

At breakfast the next morning, while Violet picked moodily at her toast, the hotel owner came over to the table. "Scuse me, but is there a Mr. H and Miss. V. Potter here? Only I got about a 'undred of these at the front desk."

Violet stared up at the letter, this one intended for Harry.

Mr. H. Potter

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

Harry snatched at it, but Uncle Vernon batted his hand out of the way, while the hotel owner stared, before he followed her out of the dining room.

"Those are _ours_ ," Violet called after her uselessly.

They drove out of the city and into a forest, only to turn around.

"I've never seen this many trees before," said Violet.

They drove into the middle of a field in the countryside, only to turn around.

"Are we lost?" asked Violet.

They stopped in the middle of a suspension bridge, only to, surprise, turn around.

"We're holding up traffic," commented Violet.

They pulled in and out a space at the top of a parking garage, then turned around and drove all the way back down.

Violet was going to say something, but decided it was probably best to save it for later, as her uncle's grip on the steering wheel was white-knuckled.

Now they sat in the car at the edge of the coast. Violet's arms and legs were going a bit numb from sitting still for so long. She kicked the front seat, earning herself a glare from her aunt. Harry stared silently out the window.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley was whining.

"Almost certainly," said Violet darkly.

"This is all your fault," her cousin spat at her, shoving Harry into her. "I'm going to miss the Great Humberto on the telly tonight because of you two and your stupid letters!"

Harry glanced at Violet.

'The Great Humberto', she mouthed at him, eyes lighting up in understanding. That meant it was Monday. If today was Monday, tomorrow was Tuesday, and that meant tomorrow they would be eleven years old. If there was any hope of a party or celebration of any kind, Violet might have been more thrilled to realize it, but at least they would spend the day together.

Presently Uncle Vernon returned from wherever he'd gone, holding a suspiciously shaped package and accompanied by a disturbing looking old man.

'Good Lord', thought Violet. 'He's going to sell us into indentured servitude aboard some fishing ship.'

They all stood there, shivering in the cold rain, outside of the car, and Violet groaned as they clambered into the small rowboat provided to them. Uncle Vernon claimed they'd be spending the night on a rock. In the middle of the sea. She debated jumping out and swimming for the shore with Harry silently at one point, but the waves crashing against the sides of the boat were rough, and Violet had never technically learned to properly swim.

What was on the rock was a desolate little shack that didn't do much to protect from the wind or the rain. It wasn't hard to guess why they were there; no one could possibly get out to them to deliver any letters at all. Did Uncle Vernon intend for them to stay in this shack for the rest of the summer? Violet had never been to stay by the ocean, never mind in it, but she doubted this was what people meant by it. The storm outside was vicious, as were Violet's thoughts. She was angry.

Angry that she was cold and hungry and damp and lying on the floor with her brother, since Dudley had gotten the couch, and angry that she was never going to know who had been trying to write her and Harry. It had all been for nothing. They were never going to meet whoever it was, never going to get away from the Dursleys, and this was all their life was ever going to be, until they were presumably thrown out of the house at the age of eighteen.

Usually, she tried to stay positive, to make light of things, but it was very, very hard, tonight. She laid next to her brother, who she could tell was still awake, and who seemed to be staring intently at Dudley's watch. "Ten minutes," he murmured to her, and she understood.

Ten minutes until they were both eleven. Ten minutes to another year.

"Five minutes."

Something was creaking loudly outside.

"I hope the roof doesn't fall in," Harry muttered. "Though we might be warmer. Four minutes."

"I wish anything would happen," Violet said dismally. "Anything at all."

"Three minutes."

There was more noises from outside; rocks crunching, as if the entire giant rock itself was about to sink into the sea. Violet really regretted not putting up more of a fight for swim lessons at some point.

"Two minutes."

Violet rolled over to face her twin as the watch hit one minute to go. Together they began to whisper the countdown to their birthday, as they had every year since they could first tell time.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four-," Gradually their voices rose from whispers, getting louder and louder. Violet didn't care. So what if they woke up the Dursleys? Good. "THREE, TWO, ONE-," They were both nearly shouting, chanting it, and then a BOOM cut them both off, just as the watch turned to midnight.

The twins scrambled up into sitting positions, staring at the corner of the room where the door was, shrouded in darkness.

"Someone's outside," Harry hissed.

Violet slowly struggled to her feet, pulling her brother up with her, the blanket wrapped around their shoulders. There was only one person it could be. The one who'd written all the letters.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you to neve and BlueSerdy for your reviews, Hasse360 for your follow, and Dino97 for your follow and favorite._

 **chapter three**

Whatever- _whoever_ \- was outside the door of the hut had to be massive, or equipped with a battering ram. The second knock on the door was as deafening as the first, and seemed to make the entire hut shudder. On the sofa, Dudley was awake and confused, rubbing at his eyes and asking where the 'cannon' was. A loud crash sounded behind the twins, and they both jumped. Violet spun around to see Uncle Vernon barge into the room, holding a hunting rifle in his hands.

"You can't just shoot them!" she exclaimed, half indignantly, half in shock, while Harry simply stared.

"Watch me," her uncle snarled in reply.

Whoever was there responded by slamming into the door so hard that it was knocked off of its hinges and hit the floor, rising up a cloud of grey dust. Violet immediately backed up, dragging her trembling brother with her, both of them unable to look away from the looming figure in the doorway.

It was clearly a man, but this man was far bigger than any man Violet had ever seen, and hairier. He looked like a picture of a wild king from a storybook; his hair was a thick mane, and combined with his impressive beard it nearly obscured all of his face. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, like they were used to the dark.

The giant man had to hunch his shoulders and bow his head to just to sidle in through the small doorway, and then, the way a child might pick up a toy, easily picked up the door and set it gently back in its frame like a puzzle piece. The room was utterly silent except for the panicked breathing of the Dursleys and Dudley's whimpering. The raging storm outside had settled into pounding rain and a whispering wind instead, as if it too was listening in to see what happened next.

The giant slowly turned to face them all. The look in his eyes was half amused, half irritated. In spite of her fear Violet warmed to him instantly.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…," he grumbled, and with one swift stride reached the sofa, which looked child-sized in comparison to him.

Dudley huddled into a corner of it, petrified, and Violet couldn't resist a tiny smirk.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," the giant said casually, and with a squeal Dudley scrambled off of the sofa, and reached Aunt Petunia in record time, clinging to her nightgown as he hid behind her, who was in turn behind Uncle Vernon.

The giant sat down with a sigh; the sofa groaned in protest. Now he turned to look at the twins.

"Hello," said Violet, and her voice wavered only slightly. "I'm Violet, and this is Harry. Have you come here looking for us?"

The giant appeared delighted at the question, and his dark eyes seemed to turn up in a smile at their corners as he leaned forward slightly to respond. Violet chanced a small step forward, and Harry shuffled forward as well beside her. Their pajamas were filthy from the floor, and Violet's braid and Harry's hair as disheveled as usual, but if this was how they had to meet the person who'd been trying to find them for so long, Violet thought, than so be it.

"Yeh look an' sound jus' like yer mum, Violet," the giant said. "An' Harry, yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes. The two of yeh together are the very picture of them, yeh are." He sounded thrilled.

Behind them, Uncle Vernon sounded as if he were choking on something. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he blustered; he was terrified, Violet could tell. "You are breaking and entering!"

The giant looked less than impressed. "Ah, shut up Dursley, ye great prune," he scoffed, and with a great deal of ease, reached over the back of the sofa and plucked the rifle away from the man, tied it in a knot like a shoelace, and carelessly tossed it into a corner, where it clattered onto the floor. Violet had to forcibly stop herself from clapping her hands together in delight.

"Anyway," the giant turned back to regard them, "A very happy birthday to the two of yeh. Got summat for yeh here- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right," he assured them.

He searched through his long black overcoat before gingerly pulling out a box, and placing it on the broken little table in front of the sofa. Violet immediately crouched down to open it with her brother, revealing a large chocolate cake. Her mouth watered hungrily at there mere sight of it. Written on the top in bright green and purple alternating icing, it said Happy Birthday Harry & Violet in spindly little letters.

Violet immediately stuck a finger out and snagged some of the icing, while Harry asked, dumbfounded, "Who are you?"

The giant just snorted. "True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He shook Harry's hand, or rather his whole arm, and then Violet's, her other hand pre-occupied with getting a piece of the cake into her mouth. She hadn't been starving all night to turn down food, and birthday cake at that, when it was presented to her.

"Thank you," she tried to say, but it came out like "Fanf ewe."

"Yer welcome," Rubeus Hagrid said good-naturedly, and then rubbed his large hands together. "What about that tea then, eh? I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

"We don't have any tea, sorry," Violet said apologetically, after she'd swallowed. She rubbed at a bit of icing on the corner of her mouth. "And we used the food wrappers to try to start a fire, but Uncle Vernon's really awful at this survival sort of stuff." There wasn't a thing her uncle could do to her with Rubeus Hagrid there, she had quickly caught on, and she intended to make the most of it.

Rubeus Hagrid snorted again, and turned to the long since dead fire. He crouched down in front of it, and Violet and Harry watched curiously as he stood up again a moment later, leaving behind a crackling fire. She outstretched her hands towards it eagerly, feeling the warmth hit them and the goose bumps on her arms and legs recede.

"That's brilliant!"

Rubeus Hagrid simply shook his thick mane a little and sat back down on the sofa, presumably to busy himself with making tea. He appeared to be pulling quite a lot of things out of his coat, but Violet was too distracted with warming herself to pay much attention to it, until he started cooking sausages over the fire. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dudley shift a bit, despondently. He'd never seen food and not immediately been offered it before.

"Don't touch anything he gives to you, Dudley," Uncle Vernon snapped at him.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don't need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don't worry," Rubeus Hagrid retorted without even looking up, as he passed the sausages to the twins.

This was already quickly becoming the best birthday Violet had ever had. When she and her brother were done gorging themselves, at last Harry finally spoke up tentatively.

"I'm sorry, but we still don't really know who you are?"

"Are you related to us, Mr. Hagrid?" Violet asked immediately. "Are you our great-uncle? Or our second cousin thrice removed? How'd you know our parents?"

Rubeus Hagrid nearly choked on his sip of tea, and wiped the back of his mouth as he managed to set the cup down. "Yeh can call me Hagrid, lass. Everyone does. I'm not related to yeh, though I'd be honored ter be. Like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts- that's how I knew yer parents."

Violet and Harry exchanged a confused look. "What's Hogwarts?"

Hagrid looked equally confused.

"Sorry," Harry tacked on hastily.

"Is it a university?" Violet asked, puzzled.

Hagrid's look of confusion was slowly turning to outrage as he glowered over at the Dursleys. Violet sensed an explosion was imminent, and more than ready for it. Her aunt and uncle had never been truthful with them, that much was obvious. It was about time the tables got turned.

"Do yeh mean ter tell me, tha' neither of yeh know a thing about Hogwarts?! I knew yeh weren't gettin' the letters, but yer tellin' me yeh don't even know it's a school?! Yeh never wondered where yer parents learned it all?" He seemed incredulous that anyone could not know about 'Hogwarts'.

"All what?" Harry asked, having grown pale.

Violet was frozen in the firelight, looking between Hagrid and the cowering Dursleys. She had so many things she wanted to say, so much she wanted to ask, but she couldn't get any of it out. "You never even told us how they met," she accused, staring angrily at her aunt and uncle. "You never told us anything about them!"

Hagrid was on his feet, enraged. The Dursleys were mute, all of their nasty looks and sharp tongues useless in the face of this interrogation.

"Ye never told them nothin' abou'- abou' ANYTHING?" he demanded.

"We know some things," Harry spoke up a little reproachfully. "We can do maths and spell and stuff."

"We just don't like school much," Violet added.

Hagrid glanced back at them in disbelief. "About _our_ world, I mean. Yer world. My world. Yer parents' world."

The last time Violet had checked, there was only one world in which everyone lived. "We from another _world_?!" she exploded.

"What world?" Harry asked desperately.

"DURSLEY!" Hagrid roared, looking caught between exacting some sort of punishment on the Dursleys and answering the twins' questions. As much as Violet wanted to see the former, she really thought the latter was more important at the moment.

He turned back to the twins yet again, looking as if he were almost in shock at their complete and utter lack of knowledge. "Yeh don't know who yer mum an' dad were? They're famous. _Yer_ famous."

" _We're_ famous?" Violet echoed.

"Of course ye are," Hagrid said indignantly. "Everyone knows yer names! And the two of yeh are sittin' here not knowin' what ye are!"

"I forbid you," Uncle Vernon had seemed to regain some of his nerve, however small it might be. "Don't tell them anything- we've spent _years_ trying to raise them right-,"

"Raise them righ'-," Hagrid bellowed, his massive hands curling into massive fists. "I saw Dumbledore leave tha' letter fer them, Dursley! I was there! An' yeh've kept it from them all these years, ye quiverin' pile a-,"

"Keep what from us?" Violet and Harry demanded in unison, Violet nearly on her feet in anticipation.

"I FORBID YOU!" Uncle Vernon shouted desperately, his face alternating between ghostly pale and crimson red. Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint.

"Go boil yeh heads, both of yeh," Hagrid said in disgust, and then looked at the twins. "Yer wizards."

The hut sank into silence once more.

"-a what?" Harry asked faintly.

Violet elbowed him. "That's why we can do all these things! The whole time, that's been why!" She was in happy shock, if it was possible. The strange things that happened around her had never particularly alarmed or disturbed, even if she'd known they hadn't been normal. She'd enjoyed not being normal. And now they knew why. There was an explanation, finally.

"Yeh'll make thumpin' good uns, once you've been trained up a bit," Hagrid said proudly, sitting back down. "With a mum an' dad like yers, what else would yeh be?"

"They were wizards too?" Violet asked eagerly.

"Two of the bes'. Now I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters."

Violet wanted to hug hers to her chest the moment she held it in her hands, but she was too busy pulling it out of the envelope, as her twin did likewise beside her. She smoothed the paper hurriedly and squinted in the flickering firelight.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Violet devoured the words with her eyes, drinking them in like broth. She reread it a second, then a third time while Harry stammered, asking what they meant by awaiting a owl, and Hagrid hurriedly scrawled a note of some sort, which he handed off to an owl that seemed to have come out from the inside of his coat. At this point, little would have shocked Violet anyways.

"They're not going," Uncle Vernon barked suddenly, regaining some of his former forcefulness, as he took a step closer towards the fire. "I won't have it."

Hagrid made a noise as if he'd just heard a very amusing joke. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like yerself stop them," he scoffed.

"What's a Muggle?" Violet and Harry chorused.

"Muggle's what we wizards call non-magic folk like yer charmin' relatives," Hagrid said flatly, glancing dismissively at the furious Uncle Vernon, mute Aunt Petunia, and cowering Dudley.

"Wizards," snapped Uncle Vernon. "It's all a load of rubbish- we swore we'd stamp that nonsense out of them when we took them in. I won't have it in my house, alongside my family."

Violet felt a deep loathing rise up in her throat like bile, as she stared at her uncle. "You've known this whole time, haven't you?" she said in a low tone. " _Haven't_ you?"

Aunt Petunia suddenly stepped forward, and her eyes were nearly slits in her fury. Violet drew back, having never seen the woman this enraged before. Her aunt was always annoyed, but usually didn't approach her husband's levels of explosive anger.

"Of course we knew," she hissed. "How could you not be, with my sister for your mother? I remember when she got _her_ letter; couldn't be bothered with anyone _Muggle_ anymore- she was too busy turning teacups into rats with all the other freaks! And my parents were proud! Proud! As if having a witch in the family was something to brag to the neighbors about! I was the only one with any sense in the entire family," her voice wavered in its needle-thin sharpness, "And they all acted as if _I_ were the disappointment! For being perfectly normal! Then she met that _Potter_ at school, and they vanished off the face of the Earth! Had you two and got herself _blown up_ and here we are now!"

She was shaking, she was so angry, but behind the anger was something Violet glimpsed but could not place. Whatever it was, it was raw and naked, like a still-fresh wound that had not yet properly scabbed over.

But Violet was too horrified to identify it- _blown up_?

"You told us they died in a car crash!" Harry yelled back, his green eyes wide behind his glasses.

"CAR CRASH?!" Hagrid roared in outrage, making both twins flinch. "No _car crash_ coulda killed James an' Lily _Potter_! Yer tellin' me their kids don't even know their own story when every kid in our world knows their names?!"

Violet felt as if she were about to cry; her eyes and throat had started to ache with something, and she wasn't sure what. "What _happened_ to them?" she choked out. Harry squeezed her hand silently, and she gratefully squeezed his in return.

Hagrid looked taken aback at her and her brother's obvious distress, his anger fading to an uneasy anxiety. "I never thought I'd have ter be the one ter tell yeh," he said far more quietly. "I had no idea ye didn't know anything, only that ye weren't getting' yer letters. But ye can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'; it wouldn't be right." He glowered at the Dursleys, who had beat a hasty retreat at his initial roar, for a moment.

He sat down again. "I don't know the whole story- no one does, not really, what happened that night… But it begins wi' someone everyone in our world knows-," he hesitated.

"Who?" Harry pressed anxiously.

"I don't like sayin' the name," Hagrid said defensively. "No one does, not after what he did-,"

"Why not?" Violet interrupted.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, lass, people are still scared! This is a wizard who went bad. Worse than bad. Badder than people thought yeh could go." He tried again to mouth the name, but shook his head.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Can't spell it fer the life of me. Alright. Voldemort," he said it in a rush, looking relieved to have gotten it over with. "I'm not sayin' it again. Anyways, he started gatherin' followers- people who wanted ter be like him, thought he'd take over and change our world fer the better- better of who, I don't know," he said darkly.

"Not any decent folk. No one knew who ter trust or what side anyone was on, but yer parents- they were some of the best. They were good. Only place Voldemort wouldn't dare go after was Hogwarts- scared of Dumbledore, I reckon. Yer parents were Head Boy an' Girl there, back in the day! Maybe You-Know-Who thought he could turn them ter his side- he was good at that. Maybe he just wanted them outta the way. But ten years ago, on All Hallow's Eve, he turned up at yer village."

Here Hagrid began to get noticeably choked up. Violet's stomach turned slightly. Growing up knowing her parents had died tragically and without ever getting to see their children grow up was one thing, but at least she and Harry had believed it had all been an awful accident. Knowing they'd been _murdered_ was much, much worse.

"The two of yeh were only a year old," he sniffled. "Sorry. You-Know-Who killed 'em; cut 'em down right where they stood, tryin' to protect their kids. But then he tried to kill the two of yeh. An' he couldn't. Harry, yeh ever wonder about that scar on yer forehead? It's the mark of where a curse touched yeh, a powerful one. That same curse killed yer parents, even destroyed yer house, but yeh were jus' a baby, and yeh lived. He didn't even get the chance to try an' hurt yeh, Violet. Whatever happened in that house, it hurt him instead. An' it left yeh two all alone."

Violet felt as though all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying harder than she ever had to remember; she remembered the green light even clearer now, and two sounds; a cold, hollow laugh, and the wails of a baby. It made her feel sick. The lingering aftertaste of the birthday cake and sausage turned bitter in her mouth.

"I took the both of yeh from the rubble, and brought yeh to this sorry lot. Dumbledore's orders."

"What a load of old tosh," Uncle Vernon cut in abruptly, once again having worked up the nerve- or the pure rage- to move out of the corner and approach the twins once more.

"You listen to me," he snarled at them. "There's no doubt in mind there's something strange about the both of you- especially you, girl. But it's nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured. We were too lax with you. Your parents were freaks, alright? They weren't normal, and if they'd stuck to their own freakish kind we wouldn't have had any problems. But it's no surprise they ended up dead, do you hear me? No surprise. They brought it all on themselves, getting mixed up with a bunch of lunatics-,"

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" Violet exploded, jumping to her feet with a furious sob. "They didn't DESERVE to die, and we didn't DESERVE to get stuck with you, and have you treat us like DIRT." She whirled on Aunt Petunia, who looked stunned. "SHE WAS YOUR SISTER! YOUR _SISTER_! AND YOU TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT?! SHE'S _DEAD_ , AND WE'LL NEVER, EVER GET TO SEE HER AGAIN, AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS THAT SHE WAS A _FREAK_?!"

The blonde woman's mouth opened, but no sound came out. She was staring at Violet, but Violet felt as though she did not see her at all, but rather someone else entirely, as if she'd suddenly pulled off a mask to reveal a stranger. "She was your sister," Violet sobbed. "And you won't even say her name. You never even told us what she _looked like_."

Aunt Petunia continued to stare, skinny shoulders heaving up and down, but Uncle Vernon caught Violet roughly by the arm, his grip painful. "That's enough out of you," he growled, twisting her arm viciously. "Don't think you can mouth off just because of a letter, you-,"

"Let go of her!" Harry snapped, scrambling to his feet as well, but Hagrid had leapt up quicker, despite his massive size, and was pointing a bright pink umbrella at Uncle Vernon.

"I'm warnin' yeh, Dursley," he said in a dangerously calm tone.

Uncle Vernon immediately let go of Violet and scurried backwards until his back hit the wall.

Hagrid slowly stowed the umbrella back in his coat, and looked to the twins; Violet was rubbing her arm, while Harry asked very quietly, "So Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who is dead now, right?"

Hagrid exhaled slowly. "He's been gone, that's fer sure. Some will say he's gone fer good, dead, but I dunno if he had enough human in him ter die like a regular man. Some will say he's just waitin' fer the right time to come back, but it's been ten years now. If he was comin' back, he would have already, if ye ask me. Whatever happened with the two of ye- whatever happened ter him when he tried to kill yeh, Harry, it took him out of the picture entirely.

Hagrid was looking at both of them with something Violet could not recognize at first. After a few moments she realized it was pride. No one had ever looked proud of her in her entire life. She wanted very badly to hug the giant man.

"I don't know if we can be wizards." Harry still sounded uncertain.

"Of course we can," Violet said fiercely.

Hagrid just laughed. "Yeh never made anything weird happen when yeh were angry? Or scared? Or excited?"

Violet and her brother shared a look, and slowly they both began to smile.

Hagrid looked as though he was grinning, under his beard. "The two of yeh will be celebrities at Hogwarts."

Uncle Vernon didn't dare move from his position against the wall, but he did cut in once more, clearly not about to let things swing too far in Violet and Harry's favor, lest they begin to get used to it. "They're not going," he sneered. "They're going to Stonewall High, and they should be grateful we even let them go to regular school at all. Do you know how many times we've been called by teachers?! I read those letters- I'm not buying them _spell books_ and _wands_ and _robes_."

"If they want ter go, they'll go," Hagrid snarled in return. "And yeh can't stop 'em. Their names have been on the list since they were born. Hogwarts is the finest school of witchcraft an' wizardry in the world! Seven years, they'll have, ter be with their own kind fer once in their lives, away from yeh lot. Under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has _ever_ had, Albus-,"

"I WON'T PAY FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" Uncle Vernon shouted, in what seemed like a last-ditch attempt to make a stand.

Hagrid whipped out the umbrella once more. "NEVER- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN-FRONT- OF- ME!" The umbrella came down to point directly at Dudley, who had in the mean time been quite contentedly scarfing down what was left of the cake, in the midst of all the chaos. Something bright violet flashed through the air, a loud bang erupted like a firecracker going off, and Dudley squealed louder than Violet had ever heard him squeal before. He started jumping up and down in pain, as if stepping on hot coals, and when he turned Violet gaped at the little pig tail sticking out his trouser bottom.

Uncle Vernon shouted, and pulled both the screaming Aunt Petunia and shrieking Dudley into the other room, the door slamming shut behind them.

Hagrid put the umbrella away.

"I wish you'd done that sooner," Violet said earnestly, and he chuckled.

"Shouldn'ta lost me temper like that. But yer Muggle family's got a habit of pushin' me buttons."

"They're not our family, not really," Harry muttered.

Hagrid simply cleared his throat. "Be grateful if neither of yeh mention that at Hogwarts. Not really supposed ter be doin' magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter get yeh yer letters and follow yeh here, but aside from that-,"

"Why can't you do magic?" Violet and Harry asked in unison.

He looked sheepish. "I went ter Hogwarts meself, but ah- I was expelled. In me third year. They snapped me wand an' everythin'. But Dumbledore's let me stay on as the school groundskeeper. Great man, he is."

"Why were you expelled?"

Hagrid acted as if he had not heard them. "It mus' be near two in the mornin' by now. Yeh need yer sleep. Gotta get yer school things tomorrow." He yanked off his heavy coat tossed it at the twins, who between the two of them managed to catch it. "Yeh can share it- yer both small enough. If it wriggles around a little, don't worry. Probably just a couple o' dormice in one of me pockets."

"Oh," said Violet faintly.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you to BlueSerdy for your review, 36143, Al-i-Cyone, for your follows, Charly the Ravenclaw for your fave, and SSJ2TeenGoham and realtimefox for your follows and faves._

 **chapter four**

Violet woke at what was seemingly the crack of dawn, just the way she liked it. She bolted upright with a panic burst of breath, having been dreaming something extremely vivid; but now she couldn't remember what. The pearly light creeping into the hut, the storm long since past, and the gentle lapping of waves outside soon calmed her down enough to lie back down, but not before she made out Hagrid's huge shape on the couch. With the reassurance that the man was in fact real, and in fact still there, she was quickly lulled back into a calmer dozing sleep as the room gradually brightened.

She was broken out of her peaceful napping when an irritatingly loud tapping noise came from nearby. Vaguely annoyed, because she was warm under the coat and it was quite chilly in the hut now that the fire had been reduced to mere ashes, she sat up, rubbing at her eyes. Something was moving outside the window. When her vision focused she saw that it was an owl, furiously rapping on the glass pane with a talon. Having never seen an owl before, Violet stared at it for a few moments as it continued to make a fuss, before clambering to her feet, pushing the coat off of her. In the process it also slid somewhat off of her brother, who stirred in his sleep.

"All right," he muttered to himself as she approached the window. "I'm getting up."

"There's an owl!" she hissed at him excitedly, prodding him with a dirty sock covered foot.

He mumbled something and sat up, squinting and reaching for his glasses.

Violet carefully opened the window, and then ducked swiftly as the owl swooped in, dropping a newspaper she hadn't realized it'd been carrying on top of the still slumbering Hagrid. She supposed this must be the equivalent of the wizard daily mail call.

"Hagrid, your newspaper's here," she said loudly, in the hopes of waking him up.

Harry winced at her rather strident tone, getting up himself as the owl began to peck at the coat on the floor.

"Yeh gotta pay him," Hagrid grumbled without even turning over, sounding barely awake.

"What?" Harry asked blankly.

"With what?" Violet asked in exasperation; neither she nor her twin had any money on them, obviously, and she somehow doubted Uncle Vernon would be willing to write a cheque at the moment.

"Look in the coat pockets," Hagrid muttered. "Money's there."

Brother and sister exchanged a glance before dropping down to their knees to rummage through the massive coat's many, many pockets. Violet pulled out a jangling ring of keys, worn with age, then another, while Harry gagged over some slug pellets. They pulled out knotted balls of grimy string, faded peppermint humbugs, various teabags, and then, finally, some very unusual coins.

Violet immediately noticed that the majority were small and bronze, some slightly larger and silver, and a very few even larger and gleaming gold.

"Give him five knuts- the bronze ones," Hagrid instructed blearily, finally sitting up as the twins carefully counted out coins, and gingerly placed them inside the small leather pouch tied to one of the owl's legs. Violet wondered who the money actually went to- surely the owl wasn't managing its own finances, after all. Was there a wizarding mail service one could subscribe to? Would they start to get things in the mail via owl now? It would certainly liven breakfast up in the Dursley household.

Then she remembered more of the previous night, and her fury at her aunt and uncle crept back in, coiling itself up in the pit of her stomach like a snake. How could they have lied for so long? Now that there was a concrete reason for their dislike of her and her brother it was all the worse, because the reason wasn't even anything they could have controlled. It wasn't fair. Any of it. And the only thing keeping her from screaming over the outrage of it all was the hope of escape soon enough. They were going to Hogwarts, that much was clear. And they were going soon.

No sooner had she thought that was Hagrid stretching with a loud yawn that seemed to shake the hut and standing up. "We'd best be off; lots ter do today, yeh two. Gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Violet's heart leapt in her chest at the thought, but she frowned. "But we're nowhere near London!" She'd never in fact been to London, but she knew enough to know that it was certainly nowhere near a hut on a rock in the middle of a bay.

She glanced over at Harry for confirmation, but he was frowning, as if he'd just realized something.

"We haven't got any money," he spoke up dismally. "And you heard our uncle- he won't pay for us to go there."

Hagrid snorted; he was pulling on his giant boots. "Haven't got any money? Yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia always said they were poor," Violet spoke up, although she was beginning to suspect that that was just another lie. Uncle Vernon had also said a lot more- that their father had been a 'lowlife drunk who'd never worked a day in his life' and that they'd lived in 'government housing with all the other societal dredges'.

"Poor?" Hagrid scoffed. "When I take yeh ter Gringotts yeh'll see just how 'poor' they were."

"What's Gringotts?" Harry asked curiously.

"Wizardin' bank. Runs by goblins, it is."

"Goblins?" The twins gaped.

"That's why it's impossible ter rob it- no one wants ter mess with goblins. Safest place in the wizardin' world, far as I'm concerned, fer anything yeh want ter keep safe- 'cept Hogwarts, that is. I've gotta stop there anyways- Dumbledore's orders. He trusts me ter do the important stuff."

He surveyed Violet and Harry, who were simply staring at him. "Well, get yer shoes an' coats on! Come on now, we haven't got all mornin'!"

A few minutes later Violet and her brother followed Hagrid out of the cramped hut and into the bright morning sunshine; it was slightly warmer outside, with the exception of the cool breeze from the surrounding sea. To Violet's surprise the boat Uncle Vernon had brought them over to the hut on had managed to weather the storm, although it was full of sea water and a bit battered.

Harry was looking around. "How did you get here?"

Violet realized then that there was no other boat present, and wondered if Hagrid had somehow managed to swim over during the storm- how fast could someone so big move through the water?

"Flew," said Hagrid with a shrug, as if it ought to have been obvious.

"Flew?" The twins repeated, Violet a bit shrilly.

"Yeah, but I'm not supper ter use no more magic now that I've got yeh, so we'll take this back to land." Hagrid overturned the boat slightly to dump the water out with one hand, then settled it back down. All three of them clambered in- the boat nearly overturned with Hagrid's weight on the one side of it at first, but by some miracle managed to not capsize. He looked at them a little sheepishly. "It'll be quicker if I don't have ter row, though. If I speed things up a bit, will the two of yeh mind keepin' it to yerselves once yeh get ter Hogwarts?"

"Of course not," Harry said eagerly, while Violet nodded energetically.

Hagrid pulled out his pink umbrella, tapped the side of the boat, and it began speeding towards land as if a motor had suddenly been started.

As they watched the hut on the rock get smaller and smaller, Violet whispered to Harry, "What do you think Uncle Vernon will do when he realizes the boat is gone?"

Her brother began to laugh and laugh, and she grinned as sea spray rose up, dampening their rumpled clothes and whipping her braid round. Hagrid pulled out the newspaper the owl had dropped off and began to read it, muttering to himself. Violet knew that in general, people did not like to be disturbed while they read the paper, but seeing as Hagrid was certainly nothing like Uncle Vernon, didn't see the harm in it. Besides, she was bursting with questions, and she was sure Harry was too.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual…,"

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry blurted out, beating Violet to the punch.

"Is it the same as our Minister?" Violet tacked on.

"Course there is," Hagrid said with a chuckle. "An' nah, it's separate from all the muggle stuff- Cornelius Fudge is Minister, bungler that he is. Shoulda been Dumbledore, everyone knows that, but he turned the job down. He'd never leave Hogwarts."

Violet snickered at the surname 'Fudge', which was an even more amusing surname when combined with a first name like 'Cornelius', while Harry inquired as to what the Ministry actually did.

"Mainly they keep it from the Muggles that there's still wizards and witches all over Britain."

"Why?" Harry and Violet asked in unison.

Hagrid wrinkled his nose. "Yeh've gotta stop doin' that, it's a bit creepy, yeh know? An' why? Because everyone would be demandin' magic solutions fer all of their problems! There's a lot less wizards an' witches then there are Muggles, and we're best left alone."

"But Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia know about magic," Violet pointed out.

"Well, it's on a need-ter-know basis, yeh see. If yer kid's got magic, the Ministry reckons yeh got a right ter know, so they don't grow up clueless- like the two of yeh were till last night. But other than that, it's strictly forbidden ter tell a Muggle about our world- could get yeh in big, big trouble," he warned as the boat slowed and came to a stop against the slick wall of the harbor. He folded up his newspaper, and the twins followed him up the slippery stone steps and onto the quiet street.

The little seaside town was just starting to wake up, and the few people on the streets stared openly at the giant man and the two children staring in his wake, but no one said a word. Despite his speech about Muggles not being allowed to be aware of the existence of wizards, he did keep loudly pointing out the existence of things like parking meters and public mail boxes, prompting Violet to occasionally make eye contact with Harry and roll her eyes dramatically, to which he usually responded in kind. The twins had to nearly run to keep up with his strides, until they finally reached the train station, at which point he stopped and handed them some bills to buy their tickets, as he 'could never make any sense of Muggle money'.

The train was departing in five minutes time, and Violet, who only remembered being on a train once or twice before, watching the seaside outside blur into a blueish green landscape while Hagrid knitted in the two seats he took up across from her and Harry. Whatever he was knitting was very large and very yellow, and when she asked, he said it was a sweater. She tried to picture the giant man in a giant yellow sweater, and was reduced to silent giggles for what had to be at least the third time that day.

Away from the Dursleys, it was easy to forget everything else. Having never really experienced being around an adult interested in what they had to say before, Violet and her brother talked until they were nearly hoarse, asking questions and frequently interrupting one another- although Violet was the primary culprit. As the train began to slow, after a little over an hour, Hagrid stowed his knitting away.

"Got yer letters? Everything we need ter buy'll be listed in 'em."

Harry immediately pulled his out, while Violet frantically searched her pockets until she came up with her, stained and rumpled. The second page of the letters detailed an extensive list of supplies.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

wand

cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set

glass or crystal phials

telescope set

brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Out of everything, what Violet was immediately most excited about was the prospect of a pet. Aunt Petunia thought animals rather foul, and frequently glared daggers at neighbors who dared walk their dogs past the Dursleys' pristine front lawn. God help the stray cats she spotted skulking around the garden. The idea of having an animal of her own to look after was extremely enticing for someone who'd been forbidden from so much as glancing the way of the goldfish in a shop window.

"I want an owl," she said immediately.

"Me too," Harry added, scanning the list up and down.

"Better an owl than a toad- or a cat," Hagrid grumbled. "I'm allergic."

They filed off the train with the other commuters and walked up a series of steps and onto London's bustling streets.

"Where are we going to find a wand in London?" Harry asked, ducking under a passing man's arm.

Taking pity on her shorter brother, who didn't have the benefit of longer legs, Violet grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along as she hurried to stay at least in Hagrid's shadow.

"Yeh can find anything if yeh know where to look," the man said knowingly.

The twins exchanged a look.

"Do you really think there's piles and piles of gold in some vaults underground?" Harry asked her in a low tone.

"You don't believe him?" Violet whispered.

He shook his head fervently. "No, I do, it's just- this is too weird, Vi. Nothing like this has ever happened to us."

"Well," Violet said after a moment. "Dudley's never had a pig tail before, and look at him now. And here we are in London- _London_ , Harry! We thought we'd never get out of Privet Drive, never mind wind up here." She grinned, and he slowly grinned back. "let's just enjoy it while it lasts," she whispered, and skidded to a halt, Harry slamming into her back, as Hagrid came to a sudden halt.

"This is it," he said, nodding at the shabby little pub that wouldn't have looked out of place in an old spy movie they were standing in front of. It cowered between two far bigger buildings, as if lurking just in the corner of your eye, no matter which way Violet looked at it. "The Leaky Cauldron- famous place. Lots of history."

As Hagrid ushered them inside, Harry caught her by the elbow. "I don't think anyone else can see it but us," he murmured in disbelief.

Violet twisted round to look back at the street outside, but the door swung shut behind them, and the sounds of traffic and pedestrians suddenly stopped. The inside of the pub was so dark it was hard to make anyone out- there certainly weren't any electric lights. And it was very, very quiet. Violet realized that was because everyone was staring at them, as she and her brother followed Hagrid up to the bar.

"The usual, Hagrid?" The elderly bartender asked jovially.

"Can't Tom- on official Hogwarts business today," Hagrid said proudly, clapping a hand on each of the twin's shoulders. Violet stumbled slightly, and smiled widely at the bartender, who was looking at her and her brother in mute shock.

"Good Lord-," he muttered. "It can't be." He slowly came around the bar, looking as though he might faint. "Bless my soul- the Potters. This is… what an honor." He passionately shook Harry's hand, then Violet's, as a crowd began to form around them, seats and drinks abandoned.

So many people suddenly wanted to greet Violet and her twin and shake their hands that she was at a loss as to what to say and do besides stand there in confusion. Hagrid had said they were famous in the magical world- but to this level? Where perfect strangers acted as if they were in the presence of saints?

A woman named Doris Crockford chattered on to Violet about how much she had respected her parents- "You're the very picture of your mother, you are, you know? And your brother looks just like your father- oh, it does my heart good to see the two of you! Your parents were such lovely people, truly, they were-," while a strange, pale man in a turban talked to Harry and Hagrid. Something about him being a professor at Hogwarts.

A talkative person by nature herself, Violet had to be practically dragged out of the pub by Hagrid and her brother, out a back door and into a small little courtyard. Harry looked as shocked as Violet still felt, awkwardly adjusting his glasses, which had gone crooked again. Hagrid was grinning. "I told yeh yeh were famous, didn't I?"

"They were all so _happy_ to see us," Violet said in disbelief. "But we've never met any of them before!"

"That man Diggle bowed to me in a shop once," Harry shrugged.

"Is it going to be like this all the time now?" Violet asked Hagrid, half eagerly, half worriedly. "Will everyone just know us on sight?"

"Well, yer fellow first years won't- too young to remember any of it. Just like the two of yeh. It'll be good for yeh, though. Yeh'll get used to it eventually. Wizards are a gossipy bunch." He turned to the brick wall behind the overflowing trash bins, and began counting bricks.

"What are you doing?" Violet demanded.

He waved at her irritably. "Stand back."

The twins backed up a pace, wary of what might happen next, as Hagrid produced his umbrella once more, and tapped a certain brick three times. The brick shook, as if an earthquake had just started, but the ground was still. Then it began to wriggle about, as if it had just come alive, and a hole opened up in it, as if eaten there by acid. The hole got bigger and bigger until it was an entire arch way in the brick wall, large enough for even Hagrid to pass through with no trouble at all.

"Wicked," breathed Violet, staring through the arch, and rushed ahead, pulling Harry along with her. Hagrid followed with a smug grin.

"Look!" Harry hissed, jerking his head behind them. The two looked back as the archway seized and shrunk back into a regular wall behind them. Dudley sprouting a tail seemed like a cheap trick in comparison to this.

"Welcome ter Diagon Alley," Hagrid told them. " _This_ is where a wizard an' witch shop."


End file.
